They have the market cornered when it comes to downtown Vancouver’s big buildings. However, their brand was not showing off the level of professionalism and attention to detail it represented. Firestain was commissioned to inject new life into the Florenco brand, and develop a full stationery package and a website, that would position Florenco as the go-to commercial landscaper downtown. The client requested that the original brand colour of royal blue remain, as part of the new look.

The challenge was to make this identity feel very corporate and professional, as it would land on the desks of powerful corporate building management companies. But the nature of their business was plant- and soil-based: far more organic. So Justin  created a clean and sophisticated logo, with a hand-drawn graphic of a tree drawn from above becoming the mark. A modern, customized serif font formed the name, with a leaf carefully positioned at the end of the last letter in the name. Instead of using a flat royal blue, Justin introduced a gradient to soften the feel of the royal blue. He passed a deep blue through the royal blue, into a light sky blue. The result is a royal blue ‘feel’, without the overt punch of that colour.

Custom vector leaf elements were used to add to the organic feel of the identity, and a very retro and organic shape was used to die-cut the cards. These included an offset white release, further adding to the organic flavour. The same curves were picked up in the lines on the invoices. The total package achieved what it set out to do: deliver a sophisticated feel worthy of Florenco’s high-end clientele, whilst ensuring the softer, more organic nature of their business remained carefully intact in this fresh, new identity.

Let us create a brand for you that not only looks good, but also communicates effectively to your target audience who you are and why they need you.

Most of Florenco’s clients are high profile building management companies, responsible for some of the largest buildings in the downtown core. This website, like the identity, needed to have a strong corporate feel. It also needed to include a strong organic element, speaking of the nature of their work: planting and maintaining the flora that greet visitors to these buildings. De-saturated wood paneling was used in the background, and a vector leaf graphic was used to break up the usually ‘blocky’ feel of a website.

Inkling was commissioned to write the copy. In addition, a photo shoot was set up to capture some of the work that Florenco does, with Carl Sheldon behind the lens and Justin art directing. Post processing involved de-saturating background buildings and skies, boosting the colour of the plants, and putting a warm, high-contrast filter over it all. The result? Punchy photos that do justice to the Florenco tagline, Colouring the Cityscape.

This website has raised the game for Florenco, allowing them to confidently convey the professionalism of their work to the corporate world of downtown Vancouver and beyond. How can we help grow your business?

In 2008, Justin decided to leave a good job, working with good people, in order to start his own business. He also wanted to be around as much as possible, to goof off with his two young children (his youngest was just three months old). To be fair to his employers, he gave them three months notice to find a suitable replacement for creative director. By the time D-day rolled around, though, the world economy was crashing down around everyone’s ankles. Not exactly what you want happening, as you step out into the business arena.

Taking it in his stride, on October 1 2008, Justin walked into his new office with a Starbucks, sat in his chair and stared out of the window at a gorgeous fall morning. Life felt good, nay, great. After a couple of spins around in the new chair (after putting the Starbucks down), Justin fired up the Mac for Day One of the Firestain journey.

It has been a satisfying and successful ride, with a steadily increasing flow of work from new and existing clients. “The work keeps getting better and better, and the ‘dad life‘ is spectacularly rewarding,” says Justin. Two years down, onwards and upwards we move…

Our client needed a website appropriate to his market ie. expensive but unpretentious. We made use of the banner trend, popular in website design right now. Instead of focusing on the beach, we chose to focus on the fresh sea air. The canvas: a sky-blue background, complete with clouds and a flying seagull.

Custom icons were designed, as well as an attractive, user-friendly property search page. These elements give the site a current, contemporary feel. Ah, one can almost smell the sea breeze as the page loads…

Verawood Cabinets offers a quality product at a great price, while delivering excellent service. We wanted to communicate that Verawood looks and operates like a million bucks, but is surprisingly affordable. We decided to create the look of a downtown, boutique cabinet designer for the budget-conscious. Our inspiration for the identity was the gleaming, walnut dashboard of a vintage Jaguar.

The use of glossy wood textures gives a sense of richness and extravagance – customers want to reach out and touch it, in anticipation of the beautiful surfaces Verawood can install for them. We paired a customized, signature-style typeface and clean whites, with a rusty orange for pop.

This identity effortlessly blends a certain classiness from yesteryear, with the sophistication of today’s trends. The accompanying website reflects the same principles, look and feel.

A photoshoot was scheduled with our go-to photographer, Rob Campbell. The glossy wood theme from the identity was pulled into the design. Deep chocolate browns, dark and light woods, whites and rusty oranges produced a sleek, modern feel.

A curved, ‘discoverable’ navigation added some spice, as did a home page slider, showcasing some of Rob’s photos. The site itself is quite simple (as per the client’s request), but the feeling the user gets is one of opulence. The result? A very happy client and plenty of referrals. Thanks Dennis!

The original Vega brand and packaging uses a lot of white, with muted colours for the different flavours. We wanted to make the Sport range its antithesis, in many ways. So we started with black and added punchy, bright colours. Sleek packaging followed, complete with matte and gloss varnishes.

Support imagery and collateral material was to include gritty, hard-edge photography, punching off black backgrounds. Hot, with serious pop factor on the shelves, this packaging hit all the marks. Wanna bring sexy back to your brand?

Two elite athletes were brought in to, including Brendon Brazier, pro Ironman triathlete and formulator of Vega. We wanted to convey smouldering intensity and drive. We wanted sweat and lots of it!

Rob Campbell photographed, with Justin art-directing the shoot. The result was just what we were after: hard and gritty, sexy and driven. We had some spectacular photographs to use online and in print collateral, images that stop you in your tracks and get you to take a second look.

We were already shooting the athletes for VegaSport. So we took out the black background, dialed back the sweat and intensity, encouraged a smile or two, and boom – friendly, healthy people. These shots fit perfectly with the original, non-Sport product line, which is based on a lot of white and has a softer, friendlier, slightly more feminine feel.

Three Zone Passes and a Concession Pass needed to be designed. Each was colour-coded and had a custom Olympic illustration. The passes were valid for six weeks, to encourage people to continue using transit and experiencing the city, once the crowds had departed following the Games.

The passes were produced on a hard, plastic material and marketed as souvenir editions. They were sold with a commemorative Olympic Transit Map, also designed by Firestain.